Obaid was presented the honor, a medal and a testimonial signed by the Japanese emperor, for her outstanding contributions in the fields of women’s health, gender equality, population affairs and above all for her role in promoting Saudi-Japanese relations.
Obaid, who was nominated by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for the position of executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) back in 2001, was chosen for the award that recognizes “her untiring efforts, works and commitment toward social development and for her contributions to generate global support for women, women’s health and their rights,” said Shigeru Endo, Japanese ambassador after presenting the honor.
The brief ceremony at the Japanese Embassy was attended by top Saudi and Japanese officials as well as members of Obaid’s family.
Alaudeen A. Alaskary, deputy minister for protocol affairs at the Foreign Ministry, was present on behalf of the Saudi government. Speaking on this occasion, Endo said Obaid had also rendered exceptional services on a bilateral level. “Obaid visited Japan about 10 times on different occasions and enhanced public awareness about the global population problems,” said the envoy.
Endo recalled the contributions made by Obaid toward ensuring the success of the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development held at the summit level and G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in 2008.
In her acceptance speech, Obaid said: “This honor was due to the foresight and wisdom of King Abdullah, who nominated me for this post at the UN and by doing so he crowned my 35 years of service as an international civil servant.
“I assure King Abdullah and my country that I shall remain grateful and will continue to volunteer to serve the nation when and where required.”
She said that Japan was one of the top five donors of the UNFPA, helping the organization to support many developing countries to achieve their national goals of achieving “human security.”
She pointed out that Japan had been giving annual contributions ranging from $28 million to $50 million to the UNFPA that helped the agency to support the national programs of several countries, including Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Haiti during the crisis situations created by earthquakes, floods or other calamities. She said Japan supported Bolivia and Honduras in curbing the spread of AIDS and extended food aid to several African countries.
This is in addition to Japanese-funded projects supported by UNFPA in several African, Asian and Arab countries. “During my tenure as chief of the UNFPA, I held consultations with the Japanese government almost every year,” said Obaid, adding that former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi was instrumental in establishing the first UNFPA parliamentary group in the 1970s, which became a model for other regions. She also commended the growing Saudi-Japanese relations in different sectors.
